


When Things Boil Over

by GenZFanfix



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Asshole Shadowhunters, BAMF Alec Lightwood, Discrimination Against Downworlders, Domestic, Downworlder Politics, Eating Disorders, Fluff, Hate Crimes, High Warlock of Alicante Magnus Bane, Hurt Magnus Bane, Hurt Max Lightwood, Inquisitor Alec Lightwood, Lightwood-Banes Being a Family, M/M, Protective Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28683960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GenZFanfix/pseuds/GenZFanfix
Summary: Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane have a great relationship and an even better family. They have a nice apartment, wonderful jobs, and a system that works for them. That is, until an anti-downworlder hate group targets Max and their life is thrown into a chaos of investigations, fighting, and fear that forces them to reconsider everything they have worked for. POV Alec Lightwood.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. Catalyst

“Your hair is really soft.”

“Is it? Must be the new conditioner.”

Alec ran his hands through Magnus’ freshly washed hair, pulling him down to kiss his forehead.

“It won’t be fresh for long if you keep running your greasy hands through it,” Magnus sat on Alec’s leg and started putting his sheer black socks on. He looked beautiful, hair shiny and freshly washed, face clear of makeup and still creased from the bedsheets. “I love you like this.”

“Like what, looking like an unkept hooligan coming out of a rainstorm?”

Alec groaned. “You’re so dramatic.” He reached for Magnus’ wrist and pulled him forward. “Come back to bed.”

Alec grinned mischievously and Magnus leaned over to nip his ear before putting on his shirt. 

“Absolutely not, I have to be at work in 15 minutes, and so do you. Get up before I am forced to magic you into your work clothes.”

“Fine, but there is no getting out of it tonight.”

“Believe me darling, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Alec got up begrudgingly and showered. Truth be told, there wasn’t a bone in his body that wanted to go to work today. It was 6am on a Saturday, Max and Raphe were still asleep down the hall, and he had a feeling he was going to have quite a day. 

Three days ago, he had been alerted about some worrying graffiti on the side of the Paris and Barcelona institutes. Usually, he wouldn’t be informed of property damage, but as a part of his push to diversify the Clave Alec made a point of being notified of any instances of hate speech against downworlders. Recently a group had arisen called the ‘Angelic Protectors.’ There were a stupid patsy club, mostly teenagers who refused to accept change, and the majority of their action consisted of hosting low-budget meetings and drawing murals on institute walls, but their recent markings had been cause for concern. Names of all the downworlders and their families worked at each institute, followed by addresses and often numbers ranking which should be targeted first. Any member of the Shadow World worth their salt already knew about the lists, some moving to put their families in hiding, but no one outside his office knew about the threats, or how likely an attack really was. 

“Daddy, I can’t find my stele.” Alec walked out of their bedroom to find Raphe dumping out his satchel onto the floor, clawing through it frantically. 

“Do you remember where you put it last night?”

“If I did my stuff wouldn’t be all over the floor.” Raphe rolled his eyes and Alec smiled a little at the distinctly Magnus expression on his face. 

“It’s over here pumpkin.” Magnus gestured to the tray by the door. Raphe’s wooden sword and training stele were in the cabinet next to Alec’s bows and blades. Raphe was a skilled shadowhunter, but his organization skills needed work, hence the display. 

“Come on blueberry.” Magnus picked up Max and swung him out of his high chair. “You’re working with Papa today.” 

Alec watched his warlocks as Max attempted to magic his cheerios up with him. Two of the three lights of his life. He considered for a moment telling Magnus not to go to work today, to stay home with Max binge Project Runway, but he knew he wasn’t allowed to explain why. After the soul sword, they both agreed on a system to deal with transparency in Alec’s work. He couldn’t tell Magnus anything that had not yet been released to the public, since he wasn’t allowed to play favorites among Downworld leaders, but he couldn’t withhold anything from Magnus that could affect their ability to protect their family or Magnus’ ability to be honest with his people. This meant a lot of ‘you may want to take that out of your speech, no I can’t tell you why’ and ‘don’t travel to that city this week, and if anyone asks you just had a feeling.’ It wasn’t a great system, but it had worked so far. Magnus didn’t get upset at what Alec couldn’t tell him, and Alec didn’t have to lie to his husband. It did make for tricky situations when it came to highly classified cases, warning he couldn’t give that could put them in danger. It was just a matter of time before one of them got hurt and Alec had to explain why he couldn’t warn them. 

He had to resolve this quickly, but in the meantime, there was nothing he could do to keep Magnus away from danger. 

“Come on Raphe, Izzy is waiting for you.” Alec helped their son collect his things and shove them in his bag. Alec grabbed Raphe’s coat and slipped some granola and a bottle of water into the pocket. He knew it wouldn’t stop him from taking candy from Izzy, but it took away the excuse. 

~~~

It had been an unexpectedly quiet day. He had a meeting with the Celie queen at 9am to discuss territory disputes with the Chicago werewolves, one which ended in him respectfully telling her she had no claim to the subways, even if they were underground. He had his weekly lunch with Jia Penhallow, which never failed to ease his nerves. Most quiet of all was his mail bin, which had no knew memos on the ‘Angelic Protectors’ or any of their activity. Alec kept telling himself that was a good thing, but something felt wrong. 

“Panda?”

Magnus was leaning against the door, glitter shining against the afternoon sun. He was dressed for a formal event, though Alec didn’t remember what –

“Shit, I missed swearing in didn’t I.” Magnus was set to appoint the new High Warlock of San Francisco this week, and he had been so worried about the graffiti he had missed it. 

“You didn’t miss the actual ceremony, only the arrival. I told them that you were caught up with an important matter and assured Mr. Nando that you would not miss tomorrow. It worked out in your favor, Charles asked me about that stupid list that went up in Barcelona and I implied you were being briefed on that. He’s sure to appreciate you working on the safety of Downworlders over arrival photo-ops.”

Alec stiffened at the mention of the graffiti but smiled anyway, glad that his husband knew him well enough to cover for his poor scheduling. “Thank you. Ready to go home?”

“Yes. Raphe is playing that game with Jace with the sword throwing, so I think it is time to collect him. Max is getting ice cream with Clary, so we’ll pick them up on the way.”

“Ok great. Let’s go.”

They walked out of the institute a couple minutes later with a reluctantly compliant Raphe in tow. Alec took Magnus’ hand and they walked down Main Street to meet Clary, but it wasn’t long before she suddenly appeared from an ally opening, bleeding from a wound in her head and looking frantic.

“By the Angel Clary, what happened.” Alec rushed to catch her as she stumbled into his arms. He looked into her eyes and cold rushed down his spine as realization set in. 

“Clary, where’s Max.” Magnus shook her a little, frantic at the thought of something happening to their son.

“The- they. Magnus I-” She could barely get a sentence out, but it didn’t matter. Alec knew what was happening. “Where.”

She pointed, and he sprinted headlong into a gathering crowd. He could hear Raphe following him, Magnus still trying to squeeze details out of a now unresponsive Clary. He stopped at the sight of Max, his 2-year-old bundle of joy, being pushed unconscious into a Clave transport. Alec couldn’t see any injuries, but whoever had done had sent their message. 

Out of everything that could have become of this disaster, the angels had picked his worst nightmare. Alec could feel tears in his eyes as he jumped into the back of the transport, Raphe running to tell Magnus. They rushed to the hospital and Alec took the hand of his little blueberry. How could he have let this happen.


	2. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting Max Home

“Just sign there and you are free to go.”

Machines beeped and groaned as Alec signed the final paperwork to get Max released. Magnus was in the hospital room, changing him into his jammies and getting ready to go home, and Raphe by the vending machine playing games on a controller. They were both tired and looked like zombies, having slept in the horribly uncomfortable hospital seats for two days.

“Were all good.” Magnus walked over carrying a barely conscious Max in his arms. He was putting on a brave face, but you could see the tear stains in his eyes and the wrinkles in his forehead. 

“Great, let’s go.”

Alec grabbed Raphe’s hand and held the door for Magnus as they walked to the entrance. Alicante General Hospital had a rule against portaling out, wanting to monitor portal traffic so they would know when an injured person came in. Alec was still processing the events of the last 72 hours. Them walking out of the institute, seeing Max in the back of the transport, the days of coffee and stress at the hospital. No one had cried while they were waiting for Max to be released. They had all been in shock. 

“Here we are baby.” Magnus cooed at Max as they walked through the portal and into their apartment. “Let’s go get you cleaned up, shall we?”

Raphe went to his room to take a shower while Magnus took Max into the master bathroom for a bath. Alec started making pasta, Raphe’s favorite, but he had hardly mixed in the cheese when he felt a familiar churn in his stomach. He finished the pasta and tried his best to keep the nausea at bay, trying to think of what he had eaten that day. 

“Max is on our bed. He’s still asleep, but he should wake up soon, the potion is wearing off soon.”

Alec turned around and smiled at Magnus. A cookie from the vending machine, two cups of coffee, and some apple slices from Izzy. “That’s good. I’m just topping off the pasta.”

“Oh great, Raphe will love the treat. He hasn’t been sleeping well.”

“Who can blame him.” He could feel bile rising in his stomach. He had to go, but not yet.

Magnus put his hand over his face, and Alec immediately recognized the shake in his shoulders. He put down the wooden spoon and held out his arms. “Come here.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Magnus whipped his cheeks and pinched his nose, clearly on the edge of breaking point. Alec took him in his arms and Magnus broke down, the last three days barreling from his tear ducts. Alec rubbed his husband’s greasy hair and kissed his forehead, hoping to God he didn’t notice the unrest in his intestines. He didn’t have to hide it for long though, because just as he could feel himself about to retch Raphe walked in.   
They lock eyes and Alec immediately recognizes his expression. Watching his Papa sob into his father’s shoulder, his world breaking down around him. It was a look he had seen twice before. In the months right after they adopted him, when he and Alec were just getting close, and in the mirror when Alec was young and beginning to think that maybe Jace wasn’t just a friend. It was a look only put on when being forced to watch your world change forever around you, and one he had hoped he would never see again. But he didn’t have time for that. He left Magnus on the couch with some hot cocoa and Raphe in the kitchen to cheese his own pasta, rushing to the bathroom under the guise of a shower. This was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys, I'm really sorry this took so long. Finals ended last week and I had a lot of studying to do for them (I did well though, lowest grade was a B+). I've been having some serious writers block for this project and I've decided to start making the chapters shorter, like one or two scenes a peice, so it's more palatable. Not the best literary choice or what I intended, but I hate being late on content so bear with me. Anyhow gonna try to get the next few scenes out soon, but no promises. Love you all, Lila.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was requested by @donotdisturbimcryingrn on Tumblr. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (Yes, I know I spelled Raphe differently, I didn't know it was an F)
> 
> Next Chapter should be out in a week, maybe two if school is crazy. The current rating/tags/warnings are only for this chapter, so be aware that they may and will change. If you want to know the full scope of what is to come before you continue send an ask to @GenZFanfix on Tumblr, or just come say hello, I swear I'm nice! Let me know what you think in the comments and enjoy the rest of your day!


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